Dubai begins trial of city’s first automated taxi service

Dubai’s Roads and Transport Authority (RTA) said on Saturday it would test the city’s first autonomous taxi service.

The vehicle, designed in partnership with Dubai Silicon Oasis and DG World for robots and artificial applications, will run on dedicated routes within the Dubai Silicon Oasis free zone.

It is equipped with cameras and sensors to monitor traffic and road conditions and avoid collisions with other vehicles.

“The ‘autonomous taxi’ contributes to the integration of mass transport systems by facilitating the movement of public transport users, specifically Dubai Metro and Dubai Tram, to reach their final destinations (last mile),” said RTA director general and chairman Mattar Al Tayer.

Dubai aims for 25 per cent of transport journeys in the city to be conducted by autonomous means by 2030.

Other concepts being launched by the RTA at the GITEX technology show this week include a customer loyalty programme for its nol public transport cards.

This will allow users to earn points when utilising public transport.

The government organisation will also showcase 3D-printed spare parts manufactured for the Dubai Metro, an automated chat bot to respond to customer queries, a ‘robot cleaner’ that will clean floors in metro stations and a new generation of screens to display passenger information.

Last year, it launched the S’hail app allowing customers to book and pay for all the city’s transport options including metro, tram, bus, waterbus, taxi, e-Hail, Uber and Careem sevices.

At a later stage, the platform will also be integrated with other marine transport options, the Palm Monorail, Downtown’s Dubai Trolley and the two-seater Autonomous Air Taxi (AAT) service the authority is testing with manufacturer Volocopter.